Information on working terriers, dogs, natural history, hunting, and the environment, with occasional political commentary as I see fit. This web log is associated with the Terrierman.com web site.

Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Spot the Robot Dog Is In Training at Quantico

In the not too distance future, robot dogs may replace real canines for certain kinds of work, such as explosive- and drug-detection, and battle field reconnaissance.

The robot, Spot, seen above, is seen as a possible alternative to military dogs, and is being tested by the U.s. Marine Corps just up the road in Quantico, Virginia.

Spot is capable of walking point ahead of troops and poking into houses or around corners where its head-mounted spinning camera gives a full field of vision.

The 160-pound robot is battery-powered and remotely controlled, with the operator as far as 1,600 feet away. After scanning a room, it can crouch down to get out of the way of troops storming in behind it, just like a real dog.